For BBS operators, CD-ROM publishers, or anyone who wants to havetheir files sorted automatically into directories using information inthose files descriptions. The source of file descriptions can beeither the industry standard FILE_ID.DIZ within an archive, a textfile with many file descriptions (for example, a captured on-lineor BBS session), or a README file within an archive. Options include adding a copy of the description into the archiveif it doesn't already contain a FILE_ID.DIZ, adding a standard textfile to each archive, search for descriptions with or without havingto match the extension (I.E. you downloaded a ZIP file and convertedit to ARJ... the captured BBS listing still says ZIP), remove extendedcharacters or other phrases from the description (I.E. no more's in the description).

What does this program do?

Checks a directory for files. For all files found, it checksto see if they contain a FILE_ID.DIZ. If so, it adds the descriptionto a text file, in PCBoard format. If not, it checks a text file(or text files) that contain PCBoard format descriptions (whichmay have been captured from a download session, or are from aCD-ROM/BBS file listing). If a description is found there, itis added to the description text file, with an updated size field.If not, a description of "No Description Found" is added to thedescription text file, again in PCBoard format. All additions tothe description text file are dated with tomorrow's date. Optionally, you can add the description that was found, plusa small message to the archive.

SORTDESC /S - run program interactively (see below) or set-up the "re-direction" keywords.SORTDESC - run program in batch mode; SORTDESC.INI contains the options

SORTDESC.INI should contain the following lines:

(any that are indicated as OPTIONAL are not necessary... the program will work as if they were in the INI file and set to their defaults).

D=Directory Directory to Search

I=Import_File File to search for descriptions for files without FILE_ID.DIZ

E=Export_File File to place found descriptions in (unless redirected)

S=Smart_On_Off SMART REDIRECTION (ON or OFF) Whether or not to redirect the files and descriptions according to keywords found in the descriptions

R=ON RECHECK (ON or OFF) Whether or not to try to find descriptions for files that already exist in the listing being exported to (default export file only)

DIZ=NO Yes or no; Create FILE_ID.DIZ from description found in text file, and add to archive? (Also see SPEC below)

MSG=Add_Msg.txt A text file to add to the archive (OPTIONAL)

DATE=REAL Use actual file date rather than tomorrow's date. Default is CALC, not REAL. (OPTIONAL)

SPEC=Add_line A line to add to the newly created FILE_ID.DIZ (gets added as FILE_NFO.DIZ instead) (does not apply to files that already contain a FILE_ID.DIZ) (OPTIONAL)

SKIPEXT=NO Yes or no; when searching for descriptions, ignore if the extensions don't match (In other words, if this is set to Yes, the program being looked for is EGG.ZIP and the description found is for EGG.ARJ, the description WILL be used). Default is NO. (OPTIONAL)

LIMIT=### The maximum lines to use for any file's description. Any number ranging from 1 TO 255; use LIMIT=0 or leave this line out entirely for no maximum limit on the number of lines.

README=NO Yes or no; If SORTDESC can't find either a FILE_ID.DIZ or a description in the specified text file(s), and you include the line README=YES, SORTDESC will try to find any file in the archive called README., READ.ME, README.1ST, or FILENAME.DOC (where Filename is the name of the archive being examined, without an extension). If any of these are found, SORTDESC will try to extract a description. If you use this option, it is HIGHLY recommended that you set a LIMIT. Default is NO (OPTIONAL)

FILTER=ON On or Off; Remove certain graphic characters and character combinations that contain no useful information. Default is ON (OPTIONAL)

GONE=~STRING1~STRING2~STRING3~ETC~ Specify extra character combinations that will be removed during filtering (if filtering not turned OFF). Separate each string with the ~ symbol; up to 80 characters total are allowed. Example: GONE=~GREAT~I LIKED IT~(NEW)~ will remove any occurance of the word "Great", the phrase "I Liked it", and the word "(NEW)".